I am new to this Forum, and it looks like a great one to belong to. I am from the USA and I usually fish for big king salmon there (10 to 30 pounds) as well as the Atlantic Ocean for striped bass and bluefish. I have also done lots of bluewater fishing in the Caribbean, Atlantic Ocean, and also Pacific Ocean off of Mexico. I like to fish!

I am staying in Pondicherry for the next six months (until March of 2008). Is there anyone that can tell me about saltwater fishing opportunities here in Pondicherry? The beach called Quiet Beach looks like a nice place to surf cast, and the rocks and jetties around there and downtown Pondy look like nice places too. My fishing gear will be arriving in a week or so from the USA.

I am also wondering about opportunities to troll for big game fish in this part of India. Pondicherry would be great, but I don't see any sportfisher boats around here. What about the rest of the Tamil Nadu coast? Are there places where there is a marina with a few sportfishing boats? Any professional charters around here? I know there are some magnificent game fish out there in the Bay of Bengal but the local fishermen seem only to know about using nets to catch small fish and the occasional pomfret.

Any folks have some information for me? Would anyone like to join a Yankee in some sportfishing?

There used to be a basic sportfishing service operating out of Chennai but the operator has now moved to the Andamans so that's ruled out. You will probably be the first amongst us to explore angling opportunities in Pondi and we'd love to know if you have any luck.

Barracudas are everywhere Since you have fished Caribbean, I assume you know how to catch them. These Barracudas prefer slow retrieve of big lures over their Carribbean couterparts and also I haven't heard anyone catch them on metals in India. Other fish are Giant Trevally, Barramundi, Mangrove Jacks that are quite common.

BTW, Which part of USA are you from. The fall run is ON and a very good striper fishing here in Mass. I am sorry that you miss the fall run

Thanks - that's good info. I actually came to India without any gear and after visiting a few beaches and having old rickity wooden boats offered to me I just couldn't resist. I ordered a 12 - 20 pound rod and a nice Penn spinning reel.

If I load up the Penn reel with 15 pound big game mono I should be able to cast a 5 1/2 inch popper nicely. Am I stupid to start with 15 pound mono? I also have 30 pound big game - should I start with that just to play it safe and not donate all my tackle to the Bay of Bengal?

I also ordered some casting spoons, the 1 oz, 3/4 oz, and the 1/2 oz, with the fluffy trailer thingy. Those should be able to cast out past the breakers, especially if I go out on the rock jetties that are here. I also plan to make a casting jig with small hooks on it and some shiny or green little beads on it, in hopes of catching some live bait. If I can land some of whatever those little fish are that the local guys catch in their nets (they look kind of like herring), I'll live-line them and that should get some strikes from SOMETHING, though I know not what! Now that's exciting fishing!

I also plan to try all these tricks from one of those rickity boats (not more than a quarter mile offshore in case something goes dreadfully awry...). I have to believe that jigging in 20 to 50 foot of water just 200 yards offshore will produce some hits, don't you think?

Oh, can someone tell me about the ocean floor here? I mean, how deep does it get, and how fast? It looks like it drops off rather nicely but I can't tell because I haven't been in a boat yet.

I'm from Rochester, NY and we fish Lake Ontario, trolling for trout and salmon. I caught probably a hundred of these bad boys this past season. I launched my 22 foot Grady White on March 28th this past year and fished until I left for India at the end of September. It was a moderate year for Lake Ontario, but it had some good points. Big brown trout (up to 20 pounds) were common, which was unusual. Also, I caught about 10 atlantic salmon (NOT chinooks or steelhead) and MAN did they taste great!!

I also fished around Portland, Maine a bunch as we stayed on Great Diamond Island for a week and a half. Caught some nice blues and the biggest mackerel I've ever seen. I actually cooked it up and I have to say it was almost as tasty as Chilean Sea Bass. Dang, was that good. I didn't lay eyes on a striper my whole time in Maine, and that was the 2nd and 3rd week of August.

Okay, so does anyone have any other general info on the ocean here around Pondy? Like where I can get access, or how I could get into a boat that is, uh, safe? I was jogging on the boardwalk here in Pondy and I saw some boats going by that looked like nice cruising boats (not the nasty old Indian fishing boats). Where do they dock? I found the government dock (got kicked out of it, along with my auto-rickshaw driver) and also the place called "New Harbor". But New Harbor only had the Indian fishing boats (LOTS of them). I also went down to the "boat house" about 8 kms south of Pondy and learned tht it is only backwater this time of year with no access to the ocean.

Ha ha, that's a fun way to look at it. I can't say I identify too much with walking on the moon, but when it comes to being the crazy weird-o out there casting a line in the water, that's me!

Question: If I get a medium size fish on the line and I'm standing on rocks, such as there are at the beach at Pondicherry, how do you recommend that I land the fish? I don't know the species here, so I don't know if they typically have sharp teeth to watch out for. I have no net or gaffe here, so my plan will be to tire the fish out completely and then tighten the drag, giving it a stiff pull with a large wave. Hopefully I can bring it in to a place where its flailings won't break the line and release it. If on the beach, this is not too difficult but it is on the rocks that I'm wondering about.

Anyone have any guesses as to what species I might catch either off the rocks at Pondy or else off the beach about 8 km north of there?

Will do on the gaff - that sounds like a fun project! I can just see the locals now as I ask for the parts and try to explain what I'm making it for.

Okay, here's a fun question... Which of these species would any of you consider good to eat? I'm the kind of guy that eats a lot of fish. And I eat some species that others won't eat. So if it is caught in nice ocean water, I'm likely to try it at least once. But I'd like to know the conventional wisdom so that I can avoid anything truly bad (or poisonous!) and also target anything especially good for eating.

How about this question... Can anybody point me to an on-line guide of species for this water? Just a photo/drawing and the names and sizes would be great.

Wow, this forum is awesome! I'll most definitely post pictures when I make a catch.

For the fish species. Search yahoo for fishbase. Once fish base opens scroll down the page and enter India in the column for search by region.
Scroll further down and enter bay of bengal in the column for Eco system, and Bingo! you will have your stuff.

If you take a bus ride to Madras there is a good tackle shop Near Paris junction. I forget the name of the shop. Probably somebody from the forum can help you with the name of the shop. This shop has everything you would ever need.

Here's a real quick fishing report... My equipment arrived and I made it down to the breakwall here in downtown Pondy. As soon as I started fishing (about 7:00 AM) there were like FORTY (40) local fishermen surrounding me, all wanting to look in my backpack at my fishing gear, etc. I must say, as an American that was a bit unnerving. Since I was little I was taught that when people get that close they are trying to steal your belongings. But I have learned enough about India to know when I'm just being paranoid, so I just trusted them.

After a little while I caught a cute little sardine on my home made Sabiki jig and put it in a bucket. Then I didn't have a hook small enough to live line the little guy, so a few of these most helpful locals gave me one and got me all set up. The live sardine was in the water only a few minutes when I got a nice strike, kind of the "bump, bump, bump, bump" type of small fish strike. It felt about like when a flounder hits. It was a fish about 6 or 7 inches long and was kind of like perch coloring, but darker. The guys said it is a "cudamdadumbada" and that it is very good for eating. So I'll fry it up tonight!

No hits on my top popper, but there was a ton of action in the water. All in all I was only able to do about one hour of effective fishing due to the hectic nature of 40 people staring at me, giving suggestions, etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for their help and also for the stretching experience that we Americans seem to need when here in Asia. But next time I plan to head somewhere out in the boonies so I can think like a fish instead of like a tourist.

Oh, the 30 pound test seems to be overkill for this kind of fishing. I'm going down to 12 pound test with a light drag. I'll continue to use a leader, just in case.

Here's a photo of the little guy. I wouldn't have kept him because he is so small, but somehow I got carried away by all the excitement of the mass of people watching. Anyway, here's to bigger (and more) fish in the future!

Really difficult to say from the picture ....
Dorsal fin and spines are invisible or folded up in the pic or not developed. Only soft rays visible.
Pelvic Fin and Anal Fins also folded up. The lips are a distinguishing feature but I'm not able to pinpoint an exact name.
My guess is could be some kind of sea bream ...
Any salties wanna help ???

Yes, it definitely looked just like the Reef Cod from that other thread. Of course, it was a LOT smaller... But the coloring and fins were just like that before it died.

I tried fishing again today in the middle of the day, but had no hits. I was casting three different lures from the rocks here in Pondy - a jig, a casting spoon, and a top popper. I did not see much action in the water, so I'm not surprised I had no hits.

Today I stopped by the fish market and picked up a bunch of sardines and popped them in my freezer. Next time I fish, I'm putting one of those puppies on the bottom with an appropriately sized hook and some weights. I'll be TOTALLY stumped if I don't get a fish to hit that.

Okay, while I was at the fish market I purchased some really nice fish. I would love to target this fish. Can anyone identify it for me with the local name and maybe an equivalent name among sportfishermen? Here's a photo of three of them:

(I apologize for posting a photo too large last time - this time I formatted it to 640x480 )

These fish look like a cross between atlantic mackerel and king mackerel (kingfish). I'd almost say they look like small specimens from the tuna family. I don't know the color of the flesh yet, but I will tomorrow after I fillet them! I look forward to anything you folks can tell me about the name of this fish and how I might attempt to catch them.

Those are from the Tuna family and are called Kawakawa.
The Tamil name for Tuna in general is "Soorai" and Yellowfin Tuna in particular are called "Kerai".
I doubt there is a Tamil name for this particular species though.

Also, this can only be caught trolling.
So, you'll have to get on a boat and try and locate a school first.
I'm not sure how you'll target this fish in particular.
But if they're around, they will go for lures for sure.

You're looking at the Mackerel Tuna, which Ken has already pointed out. We call them bonito here. Often see them in huge shoals feeding on small bait fish or being fed on.

They'll readily take a small spinner or metal wedges thrown at them. They also can be caught using a teaser and a chain of skirted lures. We use them as bait very often and have caught spanish mackerel on them. Multiple hookups of bonito are very common and we've hooked upto six fish at a time on a chain of small skirted lures.

A Bonito on a Roosta!! What that fish thinking? Did you cast into a school of them that were feeding or was this a one of? Guess you could have cast the bonito back out, still attached to the Roosta and landed a big GT

The bonito was a by catch while popping for GT. I was casting near a group of fusiliers and afer a couple of follows from decent GT just before, I took the popper out of the water this chap makes a pass at the rooster and regretted!

Okay, I must ask the dumb question - what is a GT? It sounds like they hit top poppers. I have some poppers here in Pondicherry. Does anyone think I should spend time trying to use them? I have tried them for probably an hour total, but with no hits at all.

One more question... I have a hand made jig that I have used to catch only one small sardine. The sardine was excellent as live bait, and so I am wondering if anyone has a jig that works particularly well in these waters for catching bait fish. If so, can you post a photo of it, or at least describe it? My jig has 5 hooks that are very small, each with two very small green beads on them. I'll keep throwing it, hopefully in the early morning hours.

Okay, now for a report! Yesterday I fished at the jetty in Pondy from 3:00 PM until about 4:30. There was NO action in the water, but I was enjoying being out anyway. After giving up on using the jig, I switched to frozen sardines, on the bottom. I set up a Carolina rig with a medium size hook. After about 15 minutes I got a strike, and it was a HUGE strike. Turns out it was a stingray and it took me about 15 minutes to land it. The thing took around 300 feet of line off - I had only about 50 feet of line left and finally it slowed down and came back at me. I was using Berkley 12 pound Big Game line. I would have paid $100 to be using 20 or 30 pound test, but this Big Game line did not let me down. The reel was a Penn AF 4000, shown here:

The rod was a 10-20 lb Cabela's SaltStriker, 7 1/2 feet long. This rod/reel/line combo turned out to be just right. I would not have wanted anything lighter, that's for sure.

I had 100 to 120 people watching me land this fish. It was a blast. The Indians are so helpful and friendly. They carried by stuff for me as I walked back down the jetty to the sand in order to land the fish. Then, when the stringray was in 1 foot of water, they pulled it in and broke off the stinger for me. They showed me how to hold it for a picture, but I guess the guy who was using my cell phone could not get it to work. So I only got this one picture of it while it was laying on the sand:

I tried to hold this stingray and could not hold it up with one arm. I estimate that it weighed at least 40 pounds. I let the Indians keep it, and I think the fishermen were going to use it as bait in their nets or something.

This was a fun fight, that's for sure. Can anyone recommend other techniques I should be using here to target fish that are better for eating? Do I stand a chance at catching nice tasting fish using bait on the bottom?

Alann,
A very 'seaworthy' angler once told me, "when a GT takes your hook, its not an event you will forget in a hurry!'' I guess the salty's among us will be able to give a better idea.I think Jeen is being polite :) by saying you will need to upgrade your tackle...

THANKS A LOT FOR THE RESPONSE, BUT TOO BAD I'M BACK AT HOME IN KERALA, WAS THERE FROM 22 TO 24TH ONLY WENT ABOUT DESPERATELY TO THE BEACHES, THE KAILAS BEACH THE PONDY MAIN BEACH ETC, EVEN GOT THROWN OUT FROM THE PORT COMPOUND WHILE TRYING TO ENTER THAT PIER ON THE MAIN BEACH, FINALLY GAVE UP, THE WATERS THERE WERE VERY ENTICING,FINALLY SATISFIED MYSELF WITH A VISIT TO THE SUNDAY FISH MARKET,SAW PLENTY OF RAWAS IN THE MARKET THERE.

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